Bible Thumping vs Head Thumping

     Before I embark on this series of blasphemies I want to say that I believe in Jesus. Now, my beliefs are skewed by life, but by and large I accept the teachings of Yeshua. I've often cited the difference between God and religion. My understanding of religion is that it is man's feeble attempt to explain the unexplainable. This is understandable because when you approach something so complex as the concept of the creative force behind the universe it simply becomes unfathomable. That's why Jesus made it simple. There are people who take that simplicity and try to explain, or rearrange it so as to forward what they think Jesus SHOULD have said, or at least what He really meant to say. 

     Jesus said, "You put burdens upon men that are impossible to carry." You see it started out very simple. You go to the Temple, kill a goat, give some of the meat to the priests, and go home. Then we got "stipulations." Before you knew it there were far more stipulations than the simple methods of sacrifice. Jesus came along, cleared the slate, and started again. "I'll be the sacrifice, I did it once, and if you buy that go your merry way and sin no more!" 

     Well, it didn't work. The first day after the crucifixion there was contention in the upper room and we've been contending ever since! Now, I'm not going to bore you with two thousand plus years of theological bickering, but what I will say is there is no unified agreement as to what Jesus really expounded. That brings us to the present day. 

     There is a saying, "Lead, follow, or get out of the way." There are people out there who beat that Bible until their knuckles are blue, and their listeners are blue in the face. They endlessly quote scripture after scripture, and when asked to explain, they quote yet another scripture. If you disagree then they pound yet another scripture and tell you you're not following Jesus. They say that government is "evil" that get cricks in their necks looking up, waiting for the second coming. In short, they bury their heads in the sand, and change nothing! They don't feed one child, they don't give a coat to one homeless and they sit idly by watching legislators pass one abomination after another in the firm belief that any day now, Jesus is going to float down and fix it all! Verily, verily, I say unto you, "Not gonna happen!" 

     Christians who assimilate what Jesus really meant take action. What is that passage saying if you preach at someone and do nothing for them what good are you? Seems I read that somewhere  Christians who prefer to hide their light under a basket go on and on about scripture and never apply it are whited tombs.  Case in point. There is a man who quotes scripture all the time. He throws wide the gates of hell because he just knows everyone but him is headed that way. When his state adopted gay marriage he didn't do a thing to stop it, to my knowledge didn't even cast a vote because the government is "false" and Jesus is returning any day now to repeal that law, but till then men will marry men, women will marry women, and the sheep are nervous! 

     To ignore your political climate is preposterous. You can "shake the dust from your feet, and walk away" and they'll take everything you GOT! There is no separation of church and state. We ALL have a moral (or immoral) compass. You either point north, or you point south. If you see something that appears wrong to you, and you don't at least stand up and say, "No," then you are part of the problem and not the solution. Time to get out of the way and let the rest of us fix it. 

     These people have no solutions. It's easier to quote scripture than apply it. It's easier to condemn people to hell than to change their hearts and minds. Jesus was not obnoxious. He drank wine, talked religion AND politics. The Apostle Paul did the same. We must work with the system we have if we are going to have a society, and society isn't evil! It works like this: I do not agree with gay marriage. I think it's against natural order, and reflects a dangerous way of life, but if it becomes law I will continue to vote against it and will write articles about it. Fun fact: We do NOT have gay marriage in Texas! 

     Don't "say" the will of the Lord, DO the will of the Lord. If needed you will be called upon to take a stand. Will I bomb an abortion clinic? No. If I were a taxi driver, however, I would refuse to take a woman to one. Will I accept Sharia Law over the constitution? Are you mad? No babbling from the desert is going to supplant the document conceived by Christian men in my book. Not only that, no bunch of foreigners is going to come over here and tell me how to run my country. You like Sharia Law so much go back to Sharia. Take a few Big Macs with you, you're gonna need 'em!

     Live the Word. Show by your actions. Apply scripture and let people know what you believe, but do NOT sit on your hands and just let the world pass you by. To those people in other states I say, we are fighting for YOUR rights here in Texas. If we fail you'll be short work. Someone has to stand at the gates of the Alamo, and we can do that. I just hope you appreciate it when we hand your precious "America" back!